THIS MACHINE MOCKS FASCISTS

Voting and Churros

A reminder to you to get your voting done too — if you want to do it early as I did, great; if not, make sure you make time on November 8. It’s only possibly the most consequential election in decades. No pressure.

They’re only starting to mail our ballots out today here in Oregon, so it will be a few days before we can vote.

It’s important to do so, because it cuts down the number of robo-calls. (The campaigns continuously purchase the updates listing who hasn’t voted yet, so that they don’t spend to money to call people who have cast their votes.)

Hmm.. I’ll take tamales, preferably steamed in banana leaves–Thanks to my buddy from Vera Cruz! As is, I’m old fashioned, I do my voting on election day. Not that I’m against early voting or absentee ballots, more power to the masses!

Just, I’m old fashioned I guess. Old fashioned enough that I break out a slide rule from time to time to check my multiplication, division, Squares (and roots) Cubes (and roots), and like minded functions. Just because.

My wife voted here in Indiana this morning and said there was quite a crowd. I’ll probably vote tomorrow, and afterwards I may take up digitalatheist’s recommendation of consuming some banana leaf wrapped tamales. They serve them at a great Mexican place only a few blocks from the early voting site.

As soon as my ballot comes (most likely today or tomorrow) I am voting! Happily doing my civic duty as a citizen of these United States. I will figure out the reward later, though alcohol may be involved.

Early voting is happening for the first time in Massachusetts this year. It doesn’t start until October 24, though, and most of it is during business hours (in my town, there’s one late Thursday, and a Saturday where they’ll have early voting at multiple locations). I’m tempted to go do it just to see how the process goes and if they’re prepared for the demand; if there are four-hour lines there’s always Election Day, where my local polling place is usually not a big problem.

I voted on October 3. That was the third day one could vote in Illinois, and to do it I had to do a 20-mile round trip drive to the county seat, but hey, life is uncertain, especially when you’re almost 80 (two months to go), and I wanted to be sure my vote would count. (Even though if Illinois is in play, the election must be a disaster.)

I’ve already mailed in my ballot, with all of those propositions bemoaned by other CA voters above. My partner chooses to go in person on Election Day as part of a multigenerational value of civic duty. I don’t get the sticker, but I now know how I will reward myself. Churros for all!

My county’s government website has a list of early voting locations, but it seems to be a free-for-all — like as long as you live in the county, you can vote at any of the county’s early voting locations. Which makes me wonder what even is the point of making people go to specific polling places on one specific day? Is there a smaller number of election-day polling places than there is of early voting locations?

Also, damn, you can totally stalk people through public voting database thingies, what the heckety.

Jealous. I really wish Pennsylvania would allow early voting. Standing in line for hours is in my near future. This is one of those times that I wish states weren’t granted the ability to have their own laws. Early voting should be allowed nationwide.

I voted last week in South Carolina (absentee ballot but accomplished on a machine at the county building), as did my wife and neighbor. We all had the same reaction – it was exquisitely liberating. The glow lasted for hours.

I can vote as early as Saturday in DC if I go down to 1 Judiciary Square; but it’ll be easier if I wait till Friday the 28th, when I can vote at the local community center in Ward 3. Not that there’s any issue as to the result; DC is about 87% Democratic by registration.

I’d rather wait until the day itself – this is a small town, lines just don’t happen much, and the whole going to the polling place ritual appeals to me. And I’m already planning my taco dinner after I get off work. I don’t know if I can get churros around here but I might have to ask around!

Early voting started in my municipality on September 26 and is offered six or seven days per week at city hall, most library locations, the city streets division office and assorted other locations. This is despite the efforts of our state legislators, who tried desperately and unsuccessfully to ramrod through provisions to limit early voting statewide to weekdays, no evening hours, and only the final two weeks before the election.

Spouse and I voted weeks ago. Elder kid voted this past Saturday. Younger kid, who lives in a less enlightened community where early voting just started this week, is juggling his schedule to take a long lunch break on Friday to go vote. My sibling, who lives in the same city as my younger kid, plans to vote tomorrow.

Because you know, life is just uncertain. And there’s no sense putting off to next month what can be done today.

It’s an Australian tradition, because the vast majority of our polling places are school halls or school libraries, and our elections happen on Saturdays (when the classes aren’t in session). So a lot of school P & C groups get together and run a sausage sizzle, or a cake stall, on election day. You go in, you vote, you come out, you get your Democracy Sausage (about $5, plus a can of fizzy drink), or you can buy a cake or biscuit or something. Raises money for the school, and while we don’t have the whole “encourage people to vote” thing happening here (yay, compulsory turnout), it does mean there’s something to compensate folks for having to stand around in the weather (which is inevitably at least one of: too hot; too cold; too wet; too sunny; or too windy for comfort).

The coming of the internet has meant there’s now websites which track these events, and let you know which of the polling places nearest you is having such things happen, and gives a rough idea of the menus available and so on. Even works over our tin-cans-and-string NBN, which is great!

It looks like October 24th is the popular day to begin pre-voting. I’m torn between early voting, which means I would have to make a trip to the other side of the island at my leisure, or actually voting on Election Day. Churros are extra, but we do get the day off, which I will likely celebrate by beginning the replacement of my carport’s support pillars.

I’m skipping classes to make sure that I vote on the 8th. I can’t morally allow a treacherous, un-American threat to the very fabric of our democracy like the septic mound of human waste called Donald Trump to win this election. I just can’t. I’m still in shock after that godawful shitshow of a debate.

I did my voting yesterday afternoon. My husband called me in the afternoon and said “One of my students cancelled; we can go now if you’re ready” and I said “I’ve been working in the shop but I’ll throw on clean clothes while you drive back here and we’ll go.”

I was expecting it to be quiet but we had to stand in line to vote, and while I was showing my ID one of the poll workers glanced at the security cameras and said “Hey, the line doesn’t extend out the door anymore; we’re doing good.”

So I think I was not the only one who said “Oh hell no; I’m done and I’ll vote now thanks.”

I voted on Tuesday — I have to go to work before the polls open on Election Day, and tend to get last-minute “can you work overtime” calls on a semi-regular basis, so I prefer early voting just in case.

I usually vote in person, though sometimes I’ve driven to the county office for early voting. The polling place is about a mile away, a few blocks past the taco truck. (Nearest churros are probably at Costco, but I’ve never been that impressed with churros, unlike my wife who had them as a kid in LA.)

California’s ballot is extra-messy this year, plus I really need to do more research on the two Senate candidates (both Democrats, because of CA’s top-two primary system, and the one I used to prefer started going off the rails in the recent past.)

Voted this morning; sealed, signed (order of operations important here!), and collected, and I trust in our Postal Service, that great federal institution, that it shall be delivered. I believe I’ll have some ice cream tonight to celebrate.

Comments are closed.

WHATEVER

Taunting the tauntable since 1998
John Scalzi, proprietorAbout the site